Highlights from the 2014 Federal Budget

Booooooooooring. It’s called the “Boring Budget,” but the 2014 Federal Budget has a great many interesting implications for the nation was he head into an election year in 2015.

First things first, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty played up the fact that next year we’ll be in surplus to the tune of nearly $6.5 billion. Further, the budget is technically balanced this year, but the nearly $3 billion deficit for fiscal 2014-15 accounts for a $3 billion “cushion” created by the department. If you think this is really well timed, you’re not alone, and the Conservatives seemed reticent to revel in the (apparent) good timing of this fiscal news. Still, the government offered no new tax cuts, and introduced no new service cuts in the 2014 budget.

There was, however, some new spending, and it was nothing overly lavish or controversial. There was money for national parks, snow mobile trails, bridges, wireless infrastructure and R&D for the auto sector. There were also promises to look into the price gap of products cross-border, a move to cap roaming charges, and to stop senators from putting their suspended time off towards the collection of their pension. All of those will be introduced in later legislative measures in the House.

Amongst the things not in the budget is new money for veterans affairs, in either the form of expanded mental health services or the re-opening of several regional offices that were closed under heavy protest. What was there, however, was an expansion of funeral reimbursements for veterans of limited means and a couple of billion dollars to update and expand the veterans affairs website, which will undoubtedly mean a lot to all those seniors who were out in force and fighting mad about the office closures

The government is also doubling down on the controversial Canada Jobs Grant program with a start dat of April 1 despite the fact that not a single province or territory has agreed to the program and created a framework to implement it.

The CBC outlined the main highlights from the budget, which are listed below:

Schreiner to Host “Largest Political Rally in Guelph History”! === What: Mike for Guelph rally in support of Green Party of Ontario Leader, Mike Schreiner’s, election campaign. This will be the largest political rally in Guelph history. Who: Special guests: David Suzuki, Elizabeth May, Sarah Harmer | Open to the public (1000 attendees expected) | Free to att […]

Horwath Coming for Guelph NDP Candidate Nomination!=== From the Guelph NDP: Provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath will be in Guelph to speak at our nomination meeting on Saturday, April 21st where will elect the candidate who will represent the NDP in Guelph and become our next MPP! The meeting will take place at the Evergreen Seniors Community Centre (683Woo […]

Municipalities, Province, and Businesses Team Up for Innovation! === The City of Guelph, in partnership with the cities of London and Barrie, as well as MaRS Discovery District (MaRS), is embarking on an exciting three-year Municipal Innovation Exchange (MIX) project.The MIX will open new economic opportunities to a range of businesses and help public secto […]